Move over X-Files: 7 series from the '80s and '90s that could be reborn on Netflix

Clockwise from the top: Beverly Hills, 90210; Murder, She Wrote; Sabrina the Teenage Witch; The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Wonder Years.

A friend recently told me that she was eagerly watching the new episodes of Season 3 of Fuller House, recently released on Netflix.

After deleting her on social media and blocking her number on my phone, I wondered what kind of world would allow there to be not one, not two, but three seasons of Fuller House, the streaming sequel to the cheese-o-rific ’80s and ’90s sitcom Full House. We are truly in the darkest timeline.

But nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and we tend to cling to familiar things in periods of upheaval. Just watching the news lately is enough to make a person upheave all over the carpet.

The X-Files and Will & Grace continue their TV comebacks with new episodes this month, and Fuller House proves there’s an ongoing audience for old shows that have been dug up and reanimated through some sort of ghastly Hollywood necromancy. So why stop there?

Here are seven series from the ’80s and ’90s that could be reborn as streaming shows, with original cast members and fresh-faced newcomers. Netflix, get in touch if you want to talk development deals.

The Even Fresher Prince of Bel-Air Will Smith has said The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will be rebooted “pretty close to when hell freezes over,” but this would technically be a sequel, see. Just cast Smith as an Uncle Phil-style doting dad, with son Jaden as his weirdly introspective kid, pondering the deeper meanings of life one tweet at a time: “How Can Relaxin’ Be Real When Maxin’ Isn’t Real.”

Sabrina the 40-year-old Sorceress Sabrina the teenage witch is already coming to Netflix in her own Riverdale spinoff, but it’s apparently going to be some kind of horror-themed affair. I want to know what the real Sabrina – as played by Melissa Joan Hart, the face that launched a thousand late-’90s crushes – would be up to as a spellcaster sneaking up on middle age. On the off chance Salem the cat isn’t dead by now, hopefully they’d use some modern CGI instead of that ridiculous puppet.

Murder, She Vlogged Angela Lansbury solved crimes the old-fashioned way as the sleuthing Jessica Fletcher, but her great-granddaughter – I’m picturing maybe Elle Fanning or 13 Reasons Why’s Katherine Langford – could pick up the reins in a 21st-century fashion, catching creeps through social media savvy and detailing her cases on her YouTube channel. Lansbury is 92 now, but I bet she’s spry enough for a cameo or two.

The Midlife Years The Wonder Years, which debuted 30 years ago, took place between 1968 and 1973. That means a spinoff sequel would be set around 1998, with an adult Arnold (Fred Savage) facing the turn of the millennium with kids of his own, and all the angst that goes with being north of 40. Maybe he’s divorced and finally – FINALLY – ends up with Winnie Cooper. Make it happen.

San Marino, 91108 Where do the children of privilege raised in Beverly Hills end up? Why, the posh and even more expensive Los Angeles suburb of San Marino, naturally. Watching these melodramatic brats deal with teenage spawn of their own would be like a less comedic Fuller House (if anything can actually be less comedic than Fuller House), and probably better than any of the other Beverly Hills 90210 spinoff shows. Except Melrose Place. Melrose Place was awesome.

Married… with Grandchildren The crusty character that Ed O’Neill plays on Modern Family is great and all, but Jay Pritchett lacks the crotch-scratching nihilistic despair of Al Bundy. Imagine Al and Peggy (Katey Sagal) having to juggle not only the many failings of their adult children Kelly (Christina Applegate) and Bud (David Faustino), but the maladjusted millennials those two would breed in their respective relationships. Al Bundy sparring with a gang of undisciplined grandkids would be gold.

Douglas Howser, Cosmetic Surgeon In the 1993 finale of Doogie Howser, M.D., the young doctor – as played by a fresh-faced Neil Patrick Harris – decided to take a break from medicine to travel to Europe. But let’s say that years later, cynical and disillusioned, he returned to the U.S. to be a Hollywood plastic surgeon. The still fresh-faced NPH’s caustic wit would make this a must-watch, even if hell really would freeze over before he’d revisit this character.

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